Mash tun

[ol' rummie]

I s there any advantage (taste) in leaving your grains in the fermenter with your yeast. Or will you get the same effect in using a mash tun , holding grains at approx. 68C for an hour or so, straining & sparging into fermentor , then pitching yeast ( like in beer making )?

[BW Redneck]

Fermenting on the grain will result in a much stronger grain flavor than sparging. I typically ferment everything on the grain, if possible.

[brewzz]

I've been thinking of doing the mash and sparge thing too.I make beer,and have a 15 gal. RIM system,so it would be easy for me to do..I have found that it is a PITA to strain the fermented grains out before distilling...I was also wondering if I will lose much flavor if I remove the spent grains before fermenting.Anyone out there tried this?And if so,what were your impressions??
Thanks,Brewzz

[Hawke]

Pretty new at this myself, but I've been fermenting on the grain. Only one I've found to be a pain is with a rice mash. I use a racking cane to transfer, first into a carbouy, then let it clear before I rack into the boiler. The rice was small enough to make it past the filter on the cane. Had to pour it through a strainer. Corn mashes are easy to rack as the spent kernals are large enough to act as a filter.